Hints and Solutions for Strands: April 15, 2025
Searching for clues and solutions for the Strands puzzle dated April 15, 2025? You’re in the right place! This post will provide hints and tips, culminating in the full solution for the theme titled “Draft picks.”
For easy access to our daily Strands hints, bookmark this page. It also includes previous hints if you seek to catch up on any puzzles you’ve missed.
Below, you’ll find some indirect hints related to today’s answers, followed by the spangram and answers as you scroll. Feel free to take only the hints that you require!
Spangram Hint for Today’s Puzzle
A venue where unique, locally crafted drinks are available on tap.
Theme Words Hint for Today’s Puzzle
Different varieties of alcoholic drinks intended for adults, surpassing standard options like Coors and Michelob Ultra.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Puzzle!
Answers for the Strands puzzle are forthcoming.
What is Today’s Spangram?
The spangram for today is MICROBREWERY.
What are the Theme Words Today?
This puzzle features the theme words: STOUT, PILSNER, PORTER, LAGER, SOUR, BOCK, NITRO.
Here’s how the completed board appears:
Solving Today’s Strands
The term “Draft picks” generally applies to sports but may hint at draft beverages in this context. (Perhaps just hopeful speculation.)
STOUT appears in the upper left corner. 
Fantastic!
Below that, you’ll find PILSNER.
SOUR is located in the bottom left corner.
Though BEER is visible near the top, it isolates an “R,” making it likely incorrect. However, PORTER can be crafted in the upper right corner. That rules out BEER.
The spangram seems clearer now—it’s MICROBREWERY! 
LAGER resides beneath the left half of the spangram.
Lastly, NITRO rests below the right side of the spangram.
Strands #408 “Draft picks”
Playing Strands
Access the Strands game on the New York Times website or via the NYT Games app.
Upon starting, a game board filled with various letters appears, next to a clue hinting at the theme of the board—usually a phrase like “Better with age.” The aim is to uncover words hidden within the board that align with the theme.
Crossword Meets Word Search
The primary objective is to identify the “spangram,” a word that clearly expresses the puzzle’s theme. For instance, in the theme “Better with age,” the spangram is FERMENTED, which describes things that indeed improve over time. This spangram will stretch across the board, either horizontally or vertically (hence the term). Locating the spangram often simplifies solving the rest of the puzzle.
In Strands, words can go in any direction (up, down, left, right, and diagonally), using each letter only once. There’s a singular correct solution. When a word is correctly identified, such as KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI, it will be highlighted in blue.
If the puzzle poses challenges, submitting non-theme words (minimum four letters) allows for hints. Three valid submissions activate the “Hint” button; clicking it highlights letters from one of the theme words. However, those letters must be connected in the correct sequence. If there’s already a hint active on the board, using another hint will reveal the order of that word’s letters.
Winning Strands
Strands differs from Games like Connections and Wordle in that there’s no failure condition. Submitting guesses will either produce a correct answer, grant a hint credit, or the submission will shake, indicating it’s too short or invalid. There’s an unlimited number of guesses with no time constraints.
The game concludes when all letters on the board are successfully utilized, and the spangram and all theme words are identified. Similar to other NYT games, upon completion, a shareable card showcases daily performance: blue dots represent theme words located, a yellow dot signifies the spangram discovery, and a lightbulb 
denotes words that received hints.
